I stand corrected, again...

Oh, humble tomato, will you forgive me my active loathing?

Today, I wanted to make the Split Pea Curry again, after adjusting the seasoning a bit after studying more about ratios of Indian spices.  Part of what I would like to do is add turmeric where possible, since I could not tolerate the curcumin supplement.  It was a good thing I went to adjust the recipe, because I forgot to include the olive oil in the list of ingredients!

Here are the potatoes and carrots being cooked with the adjusted seasonings.

Here it is after the coconut milk was added, but before the split peas were folded into the curry.  However, before I could get to the cooking, I had to deal with the error I had made about the tomato.

First, I had to battle queasiness over the amount of fruit flies in the small dish of red wine vinegar (with a few drops of dish washing liquid) I set out on the counter (advice given in a comment on my last post and also found online).  I just CREEPED ME OUT!  I kept seeing 2 or 3 or 4, but not dozens at once!  By this point, I decided I needed a fresh bowl.  If only I knew what was coming!

You see ... I went to get out an onion from the built-in cabinet in the dining room and was greeted with a veritable SWARM for fruit flies!  I was screaming my head off and jumping around waving them away from me.  Amos was so frightened by my being frightened that he pooped right beside me.  I didn't even notice because I was too busy feeling as if I were in one of those bad Sci-Fi movies.

In the cabinet was a potato in a bag that had fallen behind where I usually keep them.  Vomiting, I reached in to try and lift the bag and liquid dripped out and another SWARM of fruit flies dove at me.  I screamed again and fell back, sitting square in the pile of Amos' fear.  SIGH.

I ended up having to clean the entire pile of depression glass serving plates that the potato had fallen on so that all the "food" for the fruit flies was gone.  I cleaned the floor, of course.  And I changed my clothing.

One would think that carting the bag full of juice and potato and fruit flies out to the trash would have made a difference, but by the time I finished cooking the curry, the dish of vinegar was full of drowned fruit flies and many were buzzing around it.  I am now on the fourth dish of vinegar and soap!!!

I want to move out of my house.
I want to fumigate it.
I want someone from the CDC to scrub me down in one of those plastic tents.

I am still rather traumatized from the swarm, but I did manage to cook the curry, as evidenced above. Amos kept me company on the resting pad his Aunt Becky made for him.

The Pampered Chef replacement stoneware arrived today.  It looks so naked!  Becky suggested cooking bacon in it to get a jump start on the seasoning.  I like that idea!

I did text Becky that I was wrong about the garden tomato.  Here, I formally retract my vow to never, ever have a tomato in my house again.  I do need to ensure, somehow, that my potatoes never get forgotten again!

I wonder, though, just how long it will take for me to stop having the Heebie-jeebies!
UGH!!